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The 2009 NHL Entry Draft took place June 26th
and 27th in Montreal.  The Habs went in with 7 picks but came out with 8
after a late trade saw them pick up an additional 7th rounder.  On day 1, they selected Harvard-bound C Louis
Leblanc with their first round pick.  With the draft now complete, read on
to find out who the Habs picked up.

Draft pick trades:

Montreal’s 2nd rounder this year (49th overall) was dealt to Calgary with the
Habs’ 1st round pick (25th overall – Greg Nemisz) at last year’s draft for Alex
Tanguay and Calgary’s 5th round pick (138th overall – Maxim Trunev).

Pick #65 was originally Atlanta’s, it was acquired with Mathieu Schneider in
exchange for Washington’s 2nd round pick (acquired last year for Cristobal Huet)
and Montreal’s 3rd round pick in 2010.

Pick #211 was originally Pittsburgh’s, but was acquired for
Montreal’s 6th round pick in 2010.

The picks: (click on the player’s name to view his NHL scouting
profile).


Rd

OA

Player

POS

HT

WT

Team
1 18

Louis Leblanc
C 6’0 178 Omaha (USHL)
3 65

Joonas Nattinen
C 6’2 183 Blues Jr. (Fin.
Jr.)
3 79

Mac Bennett
D 6’0 170 Hotchkiss (HIGH-CT)
4 109

Alexander Avtsin
RW 6’2 198 Moscow 2
(RUS-3)
5 138

Gabriel Dumont
C 5’9 170 Drummondville (QMJHL)
6 168

Dustin Walsh
C 6’2 175 Kingston (OJHL)
7 198

Michael Cichy
C 5’11 187 Indiana (USHL)
7 211 Petteri Simila G 6’6 189 Karpat Jr. (Fin. Jr)

Note: Officially, the OA noted in picks 5-7
is off by one each; this is because one of Toronto’s 4th rounders was forfeited. 
The player selected in the 5th round by the Habs will be the 138th player
chosen, but noted as 139th overall and so on.

Over the last week, we’ve assembled a
collection of articles covering virtually everything with the regards to the
draft.  If you’re looking for some draft reading, this is the place to be.

18th OA:
An Underwhelming History

Official
HW Mock Draft


Comparison of 6 mock drafts

Dial down
the middle – a look at 5 options at 18th overall

CHL
Drafting – Success or failure?  Which league have the Habs had the most
success picking from lately?

Montreal
Canadiens Draft History – a complete list of draftees in franchise history


HW Draft Recap

And of course, there’s also our
Official
HW Draft Pool
.  Be sure to enter your 1st round mock draft by Friday at
6 PM EST.